Published: May 22, 2006 09:56 am            

Adult-business zoning laws could change

New adult-oriented businesses operating in the city limits of Terre Haute would have to obtain a special zoning classification and a business permit under a proposed new city ordinance.

Terre Haute City Councilman Ryan Cummins, R-1st, is introducing the ordinance aimed at preventing “harmful effects upon minors.”

“It addresses potential harmful effects, directly and indirectly to children, such as being exposed [to nudity] involuntarily because they walk down the street from school to home or to daycare,” Cummins said, “and harmful effects that have been part of court cases related to adult-orientated businesses by signage or what is seen or able to be seen.”

The city’s legal department and Cummins have reviewed findings and studies from several communities, such as Phoenix, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Beaumont, Texas, and Indianapolis, as well as an ordinance adopted in 1996 by Evansville.

Terre Haute’s proposed ordinance is patterned after Evansville’s ordinance, with changes, said Bill Lower, legal adviser in the City Attorney’s office. The city currently has no enforceable adult-entertainment ordinance but can provide some enforcement within zoning guidelines, Lower said.

A public hearing was conducted in April to gain comment on the issue. The Terre Haute City Council will next discuss the issue at its 7 p.m. sunshine session June 1 and vote on the ordinance at its 7 p.m. June 8 meeting. However, Cummins said if after discussion among the council that additional measures are needed, the ordinance could be tabled to address any new concerns, then brought back before the council in July or later.

Under the proposed ordinance, an adult-orientated business would first obtain a variance as a special use in certain zoning classifications, which includes some commercial areas and in light industrial areas.

To obtain the special use, a business must not locate within 1,000 feet of a residential zoning area; be at least 500 feet away from any religious institution and private or public school containing grades K to 12; be at least 500 feet away from any city park; be 500 feet away from any child care/daycare facility; and be 500 feet away from any other adult-orientated business.

“We try to address things that have substantiation in court cases or studies that have been part of court cases,” Cummins said. “You cannot prevent [an adult-oriented] business, and I would not want to as it is a free market, but cities have taken different approaches to protect the interests of the general public.

“We have opted for dispersal [of adult-orientated businesses], in other words, not create a tenderloin district,” Cummins said. A tenderloin is a district of a city largely devoted to vice.

A permit also would have to be obtained from the Terre Haute Board of Public Works and Safety, according to the proposed ordinance. There is no fee for the permit, but it is not transferable to another business or business location.

Permits can be denied for these reasons: omitted required information on application; false statements on the application; if the business fails to meet zoning or ordinance law; if the business is not granted a special use by Board of Zoning Appeals; if the applicant previously has been denied a permit for violation of federal, state or local laws; when a permit previously has been suspended or revoked from the business or manager for violations of federal, state or local laws, according to the proposed city ordinance.

Adult-oriented businesses, under the proposed ordinance, are adult arcade; adult bookstore/novelty store/video store; adult cabaret; adult “juice” bar, which is a business that does not serve alcoholic beverages; adult motion picture theater; adult theater; nude model studio; peep show facility; and sexual encounter center, which includes wrestling or tumbling of people in a state of nudity.

“This is an attempt to address [adult-oriented business] specifically, proactively, so that everybody, someone who wants to run one of these types of businesses as well as the local government representing the citizens, know that here are the rules,” Cummins said.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.

        

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